The Savage
by StrikeFast
Summary: Harry Potter catches a glimpse of someone running in the Forbidden Forest. Who is it? The answer can be what saves the world from being Voldemort's playground.
1. The Savage

She could see the towers of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy in the horizon. It was so near, but still so far away.  
>She sighed and sat down on the stump of what once was a magnificent tree.<p>

Small plants and bushes all around her carried big and colourful berries. Her stomach growled warningly and knew that she would have to eat something soon, or she would pass out from malnutrition.

The berries were never an option though. She had been in the Forbidden Forest for too long to fall for their seductive tricks.  
>They were poisonous. It was absolutely lethal to put one of those in your mouth.<p>

She knew. She had experienced it, not once - but five times. Hunger can make you do stupid things.

She would have to get food which was safe to eat. Like the roots of the stump.

She got off the stump and got on her bare knees, her skirt being too short and ripped at the hem to cover her more than half-way down her thigh.  
>The dirt felt cool against her skin and she immediately started digging into the soft soil with her ulcered and filthy hands.<p>

Soon she got to what she wanted. The juicy roots.  
>She laid flat on her small belly and used her teeth to gnaw the hard shell off the roots. Which revealed the watery insides.<p>

She greedily ate and drank everything she could get. It was more water than nutrition, but it would keep her fueled until she had the chance to get something that would actually fill her up.

Then she stood up, letting the soles of her feet sink slightly into the soil as she put weight on the ground.  
>She brushed some dirt off of her gray and brown shirt, which once upon a time had been white as snow, and straightened her black pullover.<p>

Her sand-coloured hair was messy and tangled to the point where it looked like a bird's nest. She pulled every section of hair she could grab and tucked it behind her ears.

Suddenly she heard something swish, not too far away from her. Her body tensed up and she used every one of her senses to learn more about where the sound came from.  
>The noise came from a thicket of briers to her right and she instinctively moved away from it, slowly.<p>

She seemed to be doing fine, trying to get away as quietly as humanly possible, until she stepped on a branch.  
>The small sound of it snapping in two halves broke the silence and echoed.<p>

The thing which hid in the briers jumped out.  
>Her eyes widened and she didn't waste any time as she immediately started running for her life.<p>

It was an Acromantula, a huge spider. Its long hairy legs and staring red eyes came closer.

From previous encounters she had learnt that they were far from friendly. Well, they didn't like humans.

She ran like there was no tomorrow. And she wouldn't live to see another day if she didn't outrun the beast behind her.  
>She ran through small spaces, jumped over logs and zigzagged between trees, but still she couldn't seem to shake the spider off.<p>

Its clicking sounds was never close behind.

She knew that even if she was riding on a kick of adrenaline, she wouldn't be able to run forever. She needed to find a good hiding place.

An idea crossed her mind.  
>She had to run to the cave. Her cave. Her home.<p>

She turned to the right and started running towards a mountain of rocks, the spider still nipping her heels.  
>The heart of the girl was beating so hard. So loud. So desperately.<br>And her lungs was working on full capacity.

Her ragged and panicked breaths came out in strained pants and she held her stinging side protectively with her hand.  
>But she never stopped running.<p>

The leg muscles flexed as the legs moved like drumsticks. _10 meters away from the cave._ The Acromantula was so close to getting her that she almost could feel his fangs scratching her legs.  
><em>5 meters away from the cave.<em>

She dove down and started crawling inside the small opening. The spider was way too big and awkward to fit in there.  
>He wasn't ready to give up though. When he saw her body disappearing into the darkness of the opening among the rocks he charged.<br>And bit down.

She screamed in pain as his fangs penetrated her skin and flesh. She kicked depserately to make him let go and succeeded.  
>A kick had landed on the spider's eyes. He hissed. The girl wasn't worth his effort anymore.<br>It wasn't like she was a good source of meat either with her scrawny body.

He turned around and started making his way back to the nest. Aragog could never know that he had failed to kill such an easy prey.

She sat with her hands wrapped around her knees, back leaning against the wall of stone. Whimpers escaped her mouth.

The wound which the spider had inflicted hurt. She reluctantly took a look at the gash his fangs had made.  
>It wasn't deep, but then again it wasn't the deepest wounds that stung the most.<p>

She would be fine.

It took hours before her breathing and the beatings of her heart calmed down.  
>But she was safe in the cave.<p>

It had just been an ordinary day of trying to stay alive in the Forbidden Forest.

She curled herself up into a ball on the uneven ground and closed her eyes.  
>Strength. She needed strength to survive tomorrow too.<p> 


	2. The Berries

She had a hard time opening her eyes since her blonde eyelashes stuck together like they had been painted with glue. It might have been because of the amounts of salty fluids that had leaked out of her eyes during the night.  
>She would never admit that she felt distressed nor the feeling of hopelessness running through her body.<p>

The muscles in her short and bony body ached and were equally stiff and hard as the rocky ground she was lying on. Grunting, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and managed to force herself into a sitting position.  
>Some tiny rays of light entered her cave through the opening. They made it possible for her to take a look around her safe haven.<p>

The voice inside of her head was repeating the same thing over and over again.[i] Harry Potter. Harry Potter. Harry Potter.[/i] She could feel the dark lord's presence every damned minute of the day and it didn't stop at night either.  
>She could feel what he felt. Hear his angry outburst. See the green light coming from his wand.<br>She was a part of him.

The cave wasn't big at all. Probably not even worthy of being called a cave since it was more like a crack between two rocks. It was just spacious enough to fit her body into it.  
>A fur laid rolled into a ball next to one of the surrounding walls of cold gray stone. It was the fur from the back of a centaur.<p>

She hadn't killed it. Her small weapon would never be dangerous enough to kill something bigger than hares.  
>The fur from the centaur had been taken off of his corpse. She had no idea what had originally killed the magnificent half-horse half-human creature and didn't really want to either.<br>It would only be another thing to worry about.

Underneath the fur laid the apple of her eye. A primitive spear made by none other than herself. The spear consisted of a thick branch as the shaft, a sharp rock as the lethal tip and a liana which tied the rock to the shaft.  
>It was the thing which had saved her life multiple times.<p>

By having it hidden and approaching smaller animals she could pierce it with the sharp rock of the spear. She had turned out to be an excellent hunter as she had the patience and quick reflexes necessary.  
>The meat she got from her small hunting trips was basically what kept her from turning into a skeleton.<p>

She crawled out of the cave's opening by using her toes to push herself out. Soon her head popped out of the crack between the rocks and her body followed shortly after, sliding out with the movements of a snake. Since the mountain of rocks was placed quite far into the Forbidden Forest, almost no sunshine could reach through the rich crowns of the majestic and crooked trees.

She was on her way to fetch herself some eatable berries. The only thing that wasn't dangerous to partake was the plants growing near the forest edge where the sun had a chance to reach the ground with its warm beams.  
>It was a huge risk for her to go so close to Hogwarts, but she had to for the sake of her own survival.<p>

Her attention was turned to the ground where she checked the ground for things that could possibly be dangerous. The lack of sunshine suited the Devil's Snares perfectly. The mean plant was not very uncommon in the depths of the godforsaken forest filled with death and misery, since it could flourish in the absence of the sun.  
>She watched her feet carefully to not step on any suspect roots. It wouldn't be the first time she had gotten trapped in a Devil's Snare.<br>Luckily, she had learned the spell Diffindo right before she was forced to leave Hogwarts. With the help of that spell she could manage to cut herself lose from the hold of the tricky and lively roots.

She let her hand slide to her right hip to make sure that her wand still was where she had left it, trapped between the waistband of her skirt and the skin covering her hipbone.  
>It was there and she sighed with relief.<p>

Soon she could see the end of the forest, with the huge castle and its towers. Her eyes then landed on the Whomping Willow, the crazy tree. She could even see the Black Lake and small black shapes of pupils sitting on the emerald green grass.  
>How she wished to be one of them again.<br>But she couldn't. Never ever.

Her focus went back to finding the berries which she had came for and soon she found a couple of the bushes which carried the treats.  
>Without a sound she crouched down and started picking red and deliciously ripe berries only to stuff them into her greedy mouth. It was the sweetest things she had ate in days and she enjoyed every second of having the flavours on her tongue.<p>

She ate quickly since she was in a hurry to get back into the dark depths of the forest. After awhile she considered herself relatively full and started her journey back.

What she didn't know was that someone had seen her.  
>Not until she could hear branches cracking on the ground and the sounds of heavy steps coming closer.<p> 


	3. The Dirt

Harry was on his way over to Hagrid to have a chat with the giant man. He simply needed to get out of the school for a moment.  
>As much as he loved Ron and Hermione and was thankful for their friendship, he still needed time away from them. They had a tendency of bringing the same thing up over and over again.<br>A thing which Harry tried to suppress.

Ron and Hermione reminded him about the fact that he was the only one who had survived Voldemort. It hurt to constantly have that thought nagging in the back of your head. Harry didn't need a constant reminder of that Voldemort was a part of him.  
>The worst part were the memories of his parents. Lily and James Potter.<br>Harry had barely gotten the chance to know them. His own flesh and blood. His [b]parents[/b].

He still carried James and Lily with him. Harry had Lily's vibrant green eyes and James' flighty dark hair. The son and his parents could add also the word 'brave' to their lists of assets.  
>Harry had heard so many stories of James' shenanigans at Hogwarts and an equal amount of stories about Lily trying to stop James. Those stories describing his parents were never even close to enough though.<br>How could they ever be? They didn't fill up the empty hole in Harry's chest.

It was Harry's fourth year and even if he wasn't seventeen yet the Goblet of Fire had called out his name, forcing him to compete in the Triwizard Tournament. He had made it through the first task gracefully, using his broom stick to outsmart a dragon.  
>How he would get clues about the second task was a mystery though. Harry had received a golden egg from the dragon's nest, but when he opened it only a horrifying scream came out. That really didn't give him an advantage, at all.<p>

The pressure of trying to figure the thing out was starting to get to Harry. He absolutely needed to solve the puzzle, quickly.

When walking to Hagrid he hoped that the bearded forest keeper, and teacher of the woolly subject Care of Magical Creatures, would give him a hint of what the next task in the tournament would be.  
>After all, Hagrid had been the one to tell Harry about the dragons in the first task.<p>

As he walked with determined steps, his cape swirled around his legs. Some pupils by the Black Lake called for him. Harry simply waved and continued walking towards Hagrid's cabin.

That was when he saw a flash of something in the Forbidden Forest. Something, or someone. Harry pushed his old and beaten glasses up and squinted to see the figure more clearly.  
>It was definitely a human. The curiosity got the best of Harry and he started sprinting towards the Forbidden Forest, forgetting all about Hagrid as soon as his feet left the ground.<p>

As Harry got closer he could see that it was a female with ripped clothes and a wounded body. She hadn't noticed her follower yet, but was bound to do so when Harry came stomping even closer.  
>She could hear him breaking branches lying on the ground and breathing heavily.<p>

Panic rippled through her body and she immediately started running.  
>Harry set off after her, like he was shot out of a cannon. The young Mister Potter always had a soft spot for adventures and adrenaline.<p>

Harry had an advantage being well-fed, physically stronger and having more lung capacity than her. But she knew her ways around the Forbidden Forest and knew the area like the back of her hand.  
>That was the thing which made it possible for her to run a couple of yards in front of Harry.<p>

Nothing could stop her as she jumped over logs and ducked under buckled trees. Not until her foot got stuck in a hole in the ground. She fell and landed with a loud thump, face directly into the dirt.  
>Harry caught up with the girl and pulled his wand out, pointing it hesitantly at the one on the ground.<p>

"Who are you?" he asked loudly, waving his wand in the cool air.  
>She turned her face towards Harry, covered with dirt. She was still easy to recognise though with her intense brown stare.<p>

Harry frowned. It couldn't be true.

He knew that girl.  
>She had been a lot cleaner and healthier back then, but it was still the same person.<p>

It was Ceri from Slytherin. The girl who had disappeared after their second year. No one had seen her since then.  
>Why was she running around in the Forbidden Forest, looking like a savage?<p> 


End file.
